


life and death and love and birth and peace and war (on the planet earth)

by bluebatwings



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, F/M, One-Sided Pearl/Rose Quartz (Steven Universe), i love pearl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-22 17:31:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13171788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluebatwings/pseuds/bluebatwings
Summary: Is there anything that's worth more than peace and love on the planet Earth?





	life and death and love and birth and peace and war (on the planet earth)

Watching Steven step forward and take Rose’s place, Pearl supposes it’s been a long time coming. Maybe it wasn’t always going to be _this_ , not exactly, but something. She’s seen it since Steven first arrived here, just a helpless baby but already so much more than _just_ anything. He was going to do so much. He was Rose Quartz, and even though it hurt, she’d seen it in him right away, and because of more than just the gem gleaming brightly on his small body. He was going to _be_ so much. It was destiny, she didn’t need Garnet to tell her that. Pearl always saw that in Steven, every day, and while part of her can’t seem to let go, she can’t regret it, either.

Pearl never blamed any of them; she _couldn’t_ , goodness, that was unthinkable. You don’t blame people for falling in love, for creating life with that love, even if it hurts. Even if it ends up tearing you apart, ripping something away from you (even if something else immediately replaces it-- she couldn’t even look at Steven for some time after he was born, despite her promise, despite her knowledge). But Pearl couldn’t ever bring herself to hate Greg Universe, even though she _tried_ , even though she told herself it was _his fault_ for what was going to happen. It wasn’t though, of course. Not really.

He cried for days, after Rose told him. At first it was pure joy-- _a child_ , his and Rose’s child, who could ask for anything more? _Isn’t this so exciting?_ he’d said to Pearl, and Pearl had cried too; Rose hadn’t told him yet, he didn’t know. Pearl understood the second Rose told her. Rose knew, too. They’d sat quietly that first night, knowing suddenly that time had become quite finite for them in a way it never had been before. A baby inside of Rose. A gem, Rose Quartz, even though she already existed. But a human too, a new one, who did not exist, and _shouldn’t_ , maybe. Pearl immediately felt terrible for thinking it. That’s what they’re here for, isn’t it, to fight for humans, to defend them. This helpless thing didn’t know that there could only be one with this particular gem, that it would be replacing Pearl’s dearest--

And Rose didn’t want to tell him. She wanted to let Greg have this time to be excited, in love, expectant. _That_ , Pearl just had to argue against. It wasn’t fair, she said, to leave the man so unprepared in that way, a new father who will be on his own, but also a _human_ whose child will be a gem. It wasn’t until Pearl enlisted Garnet’s help that Rose was convinced; Garnet’s quiet shake of her head told them all they needed to know of a future where Greg was unprepared. 

The weeks passed quickly. Of course they did. The gems were old already, used to years passing, and weeks, months felt like nothing. When the time was close, when _it_ was _he_ and _he_ was _Steven_ , Rose spoke with Pearl, her closest friend, her dearest one.

“He won’t understand,” she said. “Neither of them will. Greg will love him, I know he will, but he won’t know what it’s _like_ for Steven. And Steven. He will be like no one who has ever existed. Pearl, he’ll need you. I know that because I’ll be a part of him, and _I_ need you. Garnet and Amethyst, too. But, Pearl--” and here she had put her hand on Pearl’s cheek, over the tears falling in a line there. Pearl breathed deeply and lifted her own hand to place over Rose’s. “But, Pearl, he’ll need you the most. Will you… will you look out for my son? Will you tell me that you’ll love him, for my sake and for his?”

And Pearl would, she knew; she loved him already, because he was Rose’s, and so she promised her. And when Steven was born and Rose Quartz faded away, Pearl knew that it was not for nothing. She knew what Steven would be. 

Not everything happens for a _reason_ , Pearl’s too old to believe that. But maybe, Pearl thinks as she watches Steven do what Rose Quartz could not, there are exceptions to every rule.


End file.
